1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the art of electrical connectors and, particularly, to a connector with a locking housing for connecting flexible circuits or membranes having internal electrical traces to another electrical circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various devices are known for making an electrical connection to flexible circuit board. If a single layered flexible circuit board is used then it typically will have electrical traces attached to conductive pads. On a single layered pad, the traces and conductive pads will be exposed to the surface. Connections to these pads may be made similar to ordinary non-flexible circuit boards, such as using spring biased contact members.
Connection to flexible circuit boards becomes more difficult, if the boards are stacked or layered together. Connection to exposed traces and conductive pads can be done in the same manner as for single layered boards, but connecting to electrical layers sandwiched between two or more boards requires a different approach since the conductive pads are not exposed to the surface. Similar considerations must also be made for flexible membrane switches, which have electrical conductors formed on the inside surfaces of two mating dielectric films.
One method of making connections to non-exposed electrical circuits is to drill holes or vias through the circuit board or dielectric film and fill the vias with a conductive material. Through the vias, electrical terminations that are not exposed can be routed to surfaces that are exposed and then connected in traditional manners. Additional traces and conductive pads may be placed on the exposed surface to properly connect the circuits routed through the vias. The problem with this approach is the increased complexity of manufacturing and associated costs.
Another approach to connecting the internal circuits is to cut one or more of the outside circuit boards or dielectric films short. In this way, the internal conductive pads can be exposed since they will project beyond the opposing circuit board that covers the majority of the circuit to be connected. Several layers of circuits can be connected in this manner as each consecutive layer is cut back a little further as in a step-like manner. This method has shortcomings also since it poses additional considerations of connecting to circuits on the bottom side of a cut back layer.
3. Related Art
Examples of patents that are related to the present invention are as follows, and each patent is herein incorporated by reference for the supporting teachings:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,741 is a connector assembly for testing integrated circuit packages.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,262 is a high density connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,705 is a tape filter and method of applying same to an electrical connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,611 is an arrangement for connecting an electrical connector to a printed circuit board.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,725 is a foldable electronic apparatus having a hollow hinge assembly through which a flexible cable is routed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,838 has raised feature gold dot pressure interconnections of rigid- flex circuits and rigid circuit boards.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,632 is a flexible circuit connector.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,827 is a high density, high bandwidth coaxial cable, flexible circuit and circuit board connection assembly.
The foregoing patents reflect the state of the art of which the applicant is aware and are tendered with the view toward discharging applicant's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information which may be pertinent in the examination of this application. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that none of these patents teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, applicant's claimed invention.